On the Meaning of Life

The question 'What is the meaning of life?' is one of the oldest and most difficult questions we have ever asked ourselves. John Cottingham asks why we are so preoccupied with this question and assesses some attempts to answer it.

The question 'What is the meaning of life?' is one of the oldest and most difficult questions we have ever asked ourselves. John Cottingham asks why we are so preoccupied with this question and assesses some attempts to answer it.

'Cottingham summarises arguments about morality, evolution ... with clarity.' - Steven Poole, The Guardian

'Students are often disappointed with contemporary philosophy for not engaging with the "big questions". They would not be disappointed with this book...The strength of this book lies in the way it handles a mass of philosophical, scientific, literary and religious thought.' - Church Times

'Elegantly written and accessible...Readers will appreciate Cottingham's clarity and his willingness to enter some difficult and complex areas of debate.' - The Philosophers' Magazine

'Lucid and provocative, rich with references and ideas . . . Cottingham takes things remarkably far for our day and age.' - International Philosophical Quarterly

'I strongly recommend this book to philosophers, theologians and educated readers. It is a distillation of much experience, scholarship and reflection and it is rare to find so much contained in so few pages. Whatever else I read in the coming months this will be one of my books of the year.' - John Haldane, The Tablet

'[An] admirable, concise and lucid book.' - Reviews in Religion and Theology

'If Cottingham is brusque he can also be invigorating, and he focuses very effectively on the most fertile question in the so-called philosophy of life: that the "precariousness of human life and happiness" is exactly what makes our life interesting.' - Jonathan Ree, Times Literary Supplement

Autorentext
Cottingham, John

Inhalt

Preface Chapter 1 The Question The question that won't go away Science and Meaning Something rather than nothing A Religious question? Meaning after God Man the Measure of All things? Variety, MEaning and Evaluation What Meaningfulness implies Meaning and Morality Humanity and Openess Chapter 2 The Barrier to Meaning The Void The Challenge of Modernity The Shadow of Darwin Science, Religion and Meaning Evolution and 'Blind' Forces The 'Nastiness' of the Evolutionary Mechanism Matter and Surplus Suffering The Character of the Cosmos Chapter 3 Meaning, Vulnerability and Hope Morality and Achievement Futility and Fragility Religion and the Buoyancy of the Good Vulnerability and Finitude Spirituality and Inner Change Doctrine and Praxis From Praxis to FAith Coda: Intimations of Meaning